Home / News (page 1900)

News

Nonprofit Group Reports Jump in Calls from Distressed Homeowners

The Homeownership Preservation Foundation says calls coming into its hotline from distressed homeowners hoping to stave off foreclosure increased 7.4 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter. HPF administers the Homeowner's HOPE Hotline to provide consumers with foreclosure prevention counseling. The nonprofit received 412,353 calls during the third quarter. The largest call volumes came from the states of California and Florida.

Read More »

S&P Case-Shiller Index Records Widespread Declines in Home Prices

Home prices across the country slipped in August, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday. The agency's closely-watched gauge of residential property values recorded a 0.1 percent drop in the composite reading of 10 cities tracked, while the 20-city composite posted a 0.2 percent decline. Home prices decreased in 15 of the survey's 20 metropolitan statistical areas on a month-to-month basis. Only Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, and Washington D.C. posted what S&P called ""marginal improvements.""

Read More »

Wingspan Turns to DRI’s Rincon System to Handle Increasing Workload

With the mortgage industry reeling from foreclosure documentation problems, specialty servicers are in greater demand than ever to keep homes from entering the foreclosure process in the first place. Increasing demand requires greater efficiency to free up overwhelmed staffs, and specialty servicers like Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, are finding technology essential for maximizing both time and human resources. The company is employing DRI Management System's new Rincon solution to automate workflow tasks and handle more loans.

Read More »

CoreLogic Home Price Index Falls for First Time This Year

Home prices in the U.S. declined 1.5 percent in August compared to a year earlier, CoreLogic reported Monday. It's the first time this year the company's index has recorded an annual drop. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, warned that price declines are expanding geographically. Seventy-eight of the largest 100 metros included in the firm's study posted lower prices in August. CoreLogic's assessment is in line with what's expected to be a downward trajectory for home prices in the months ahead.

Read More »

New HAMP Mods Decline by 16% in September: Report

The Treasury Department released its monthly progress report on the administration's flagship foreclosure-prevention program Monday, and the results show that the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) is continuing to lose steam. Servicers completed just 28,000 permanent HAMP mods during the month of September - 16 percent fewer than the previous month. More than half of all mortgage mods initiated under HAMP have been terminated, but officials say the program's ""rigorous standards"" mean better post-mod performance.

Read More »

Crimes that Contributed to Historic Default Levels May be Creeping Back

Trends are emerging that indicate ""fraud for property,"" i.e. fraud to attain homeownership, is returning to the industry. The analysts at Interthinx reached this conclusion after witnessing steep increases in two of the four types of mortgage fraud the company tracks. According to the firm's quarterly report released Monday, its risk indices for employment/income fraud and identity fraud in mortgage applications have both jumped more than 20 percent over the last year.

Read More »

VantageScore Launches New Version of Credit Scoring Model

VantageScore Solutions, an independently managed business created by the three major credit reporting agencies, has unveiled its new credit score model, VantageScore 2.0. The update was brought about by the significant change in consumer credit repayment behavior, said company officials, who added that all credit models should be updated regularly to ensure they remain accurate.

Read More »

Sales of Existing Homes Post 10% Gain in September: NAR

Sales of previously owned homes rose in September for the second straight month. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Monday reported a 10 percent jump. The month-to-month gain was more than analysts were expecting, and NAR says the latest numbers ""affirm a sales recovery has begun."" Some market observers, though, suggest such an assertion is premature. The median sales price of existing homes dropped 2.4 percent in September. Distressed homes accounted for 35 percent of the month's transactions.

Read More »

Regulators Close the Doors on Seven Community-Based Lenders

State and federal regulators stepped in to shut down the operations of seven financial institutions over the weekend -- two in Florida, two in Georgia, and one each in Illinois, Kansas, and Arizona. This latest round of closings brings the FDIC's failed-bank tally for the year to 139. In all of 2009, the FDIC counted 140 bank failures. With two months left in 2010, this year is on pace to be the worst for institutional closings since the savings and loan crisis of the early 1990s.

Read More »

Valuation Companies Release New Land Appraisal Product

Kirchmeyer & Associates and its sister company, Real Info, recently partnered with Valligent to release a new collateral valuation product for appraising vacant residential land. The new solution, ParcelView, is intended to replace or enhance a lender's valuation tools for residential land collateral assessment and is expected to save lenders up to 50 percent compared to traditional land appraisals.

Read More »